Germany and Turkey vie for Euro 2024 hosting rights

Germany and Turkey will contest the right to host 2024 UEFA European Football Championships after confirming themselves as the only candidates following the deadline for countries to formally declare an interest in bidding passed on Friday.

A combined Nordic bid from Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway was also prepared, but was dropped in the end.

The German Football Association (DFB), who last hosted a major football tournament in 2006 when they held the World Cup, formally declared their candidacy back in January.

Assuring to present a high quality dossier featuring the best ten stadiums in Germany , DFB president Reinhard Grindel insisted that Euro 2024 could turn out to be a major project for the country's football.

"The 2024 European Championship could be a major project for the whole of German football. We'll be presenting a high quality dossier featuring the best ten stadiums in Germany," Sport24 quoted Grindel as saying.

Turkey, on the other hand, is yet to host a major football tournament after having lost out to France in the bidding process for Euro 2016.

However, the country did host the 2013 FIFA under-20 World Cup.

It was only on February 15 when Turkish Football Federation (TFF) president Yildirim Demiroren revealed their intentions to host the Euro 2024.

Although Turkey had also been a candidate to host final stage matches for the 2020 showpiece, they eventually withdrew its bid to concentrate on the 2024 event.

The Euro Championship 2020 will be hosted in a pan-European format across 13 cities, with the semi-finals and the final taking place in London at Wembley stadium.